Really Smiling
by Shakespeare Diva
Summary: Percy's eyes are opened by an unusual Ravenclaw girl, who may need his guidance in living as well...


A/N Okay, this is just a little thing I thought up one night on the way to the movies. I own nothing, its all Rowling the goddess's, however… Anne is mine and she's planning on staying that way…  
  
Oooo!!!! And, many thanks and loads of warm fuzzy's to my beta reader, and over all object or literary obsession, Silver Phoenix.  
  
  
  
A Quirky beginning and lots of biscuits.  
  
Forks and knives soothingly scratched across plates as mouths quietly chewed and swallowed. So peaceful. Percy had always loved breakfast, it was his favorite time of day. The great hall was filled with a calming silence as the still sleepy students ate with very little talking. Percy looked proudly down at the Gryfindor table, his head boy badge shining brightly in the early morning's sunlight. His gaze roamed about the rest of the hall, a handful of students spattered at each house's table.  
  
His seventh year had already clicked by to spring, the crisp chill of March giving way to the dewy, drippy, but warming thaw of April. Buds were beginning to peak out in the hedges of Hogwarts extensive grounds, and the grass was beginning to brighten into its usual lush greens. The air seemed lighter, and Percy had noticed the change in the students already. The second and third year girls, although prone to shrill fits of laughter seemed more susceptible to it now. The boys were more anxious to leave towards the end of class and more than once Percy had had to stop students from running in the halls on their way towards the lake. He had had to increase his strolls through corridors each night, looking for stray students indulging in the sudden change of barometric pressure.  
  
As a prefect his previous year, he had marveled at the way spring took affect on the students. The younger ones were silly and giggly, but on the whole that was no great change. The older students, however, seemed to answer some universal call to pair up and find the quietest, darkest corners to hide in, whispering and cooing. Percy always hated spring. It meant more work for him. not that he was against work, far from it. But this kind of work, pulling apart kissing couples hiding in empty classrooms, was never a part of the job he liked. And it never happened in the winter. In the winter, people bustled around in thick coats and tried to stay warm. Now, all people were trying to do was get out of their clothes and keep warm in, less appropriate, manners.  
  
Percy snorted as he took a sip of his orange juice. He often wondered why the students didn't behave as well as they should, but part of him also quietly thanked them for not. After all, what good was he as head boy if the students beneath him were as perfect as, well, he was.  
  
"Good Morning." A sing-songy voice rang from behind him, breaking the stillness of his thoughts. He fully expected to find Penelope closing in to sit down next to him. The seventh year Ravenclaw had always visited him at breakfast ever since they'd met their first year on the Hogwarts express. Breakfast together had become a tradition, a very stabilizing one at that.  
  
But it wasn't Penny that plopped down on the bench next to him. Plopped, not sat, not glided, but plopped. Penny never plopped. He looked up to find a pair of dangerously wide hazel eyes staring friendily back at him, a small, quirky grin playing across a smooth, jovial and slightly freckled face.  
  
"Who are you?" he asked, not really caring if he sounded rude of not.  
  
"Anne." She said, thrusting her hand out towards him. He noticed her wrist and forearm was covered with bracelets, small beads and large noisy bangles, and her fingernails, although obviously manicured, her painted an odd green color.  
  
"Anne…" he repeated slowly, taking her hand in a weak grip before letting it go. She smiled and pulled her feet up onto the bench, sitting Indian-style, which allowed him a chance to see her black combat boots that hit just above her ankles, laced with bright pink strings and topped off with green argyle socks.  
  
"May I ask what is you want?" he asked, returning his attentions to her face.  
  
"World peace." She sighed dreamily, before her face erupted into a broad grin. "And maybe a talk with you."  
  
"With me? About what?" as much as he hated to admit it, this bizarre little imp was intriguing, to say the least.  
  
"Anything, really. Muggle property tax, the history of Runes, why the sky is blue… anything will suit me fine." She smiled goofily at him. Percy just glared.  
  
"Do you have a purpose?"  
  
"I should certainly hope so, sir." She replied in mock seriousness, saluting him like an army private, "Would you care to tell me what my purpose might be?"  
  
"The only purpose I can guess would be annoying strangers while they eat."  
  
She laughed at this, her face lighting up in a thousand places, making her look like an imp, with a silvery laugh to go with it.  
  
"But we cant possibly be strangers, can we? I mean, we've gone to the same school for seven years, been in the same classes…"  
  
"That's impossible," he said, matter of factly, "I've never seen you before."  
  
"No, you wouldn't have, would you? Always studying…" she grinned.  
  
"There's nothing wrong with taking pride in your work, miss…?"  
  
"Just Anne."  
  
He frowned. "Miss just Anne, and just because I happen to do my homework doesn't make me a unfeeling nark."  
  
"Did I say that?" she mewed picking up a piece of bacon from his plate and munching on it contentedly. That's when it hit him. A subtle realization, to be sure, but a late one. Percy simultaneously wondered why he hadn't caught it before.  
  
"You're American, aren't you?"  
  
She nodded, still chewing on the bacon.  
  
"Well, if you're American, how could you have gone to Hogwarts for seven years?"  
  
"Oh, wouldn't you like to know." She smiled quirkily. Her eyes suddenly widened and she gasped as her hand shot out towards the center of the table. Percy followed her hand, a confused expression on his face, and he saw the basket of biscuits that was quickly being emptied of its contents by a bangled hand.  
  
"You don't understand," she said, catching his expression, "I love these things. They have got to be the best in the world. No joke." She looked at one of the flaky, white masses in her fingers before she, with almost religious reverence, took a bite. A groan came out of her now chewing mouth and she rolled her eyes in mock ecstasy.  
  
"Oh my god," she mumbled, small bit of biscuits tumbling down the front of her black robes, "These are so good." Percy chuckled a bit. He'd never seen anyone as bizarre as this girl, let alone met one. Her entire appearance was intriguing, from the glittery sheen to her shoelaces, to the blaring red streaks in her wild mess of black curls. Then there was the voice, the bright, springy sound that was so American it was almost as if sunshine and the pacific came rolling off of her tongue.  
  
"So, you never answered my question." He said quietly as she finished chewing, small white crumbs clinging to the corners of her mouth.  
  
"What question?" she mumbled as she swallowed. Table manners are obviously not her strong suit, he thought.  
  
"How is an American at Hogwarts?"  
  
Anne's face clouded over almost dreamily. "American at Hogwarts… sounds like a movie with Gene Kelly…" she sighed. Percy just stared at her, and his gaze snapped her back into reality.  
  
"American in Paris? Gene Kelly? Movies? Do you have any idea about what I'm talking about?" Percy just shook his head. "Ugh!" she cried, exasperated, throwing her arms up into the air which caused the bangles on her willowy arms to jangle with the movement. "I swear. The wizarding world has no proper respect for Muggle cinema."  
  
"You're a Muggle?"  
  
"No. Full blooded wizard."  
  
"Then, how do you know so much about the Muggle's?"  
  
"How do you know so much?"  
  
"Well, my father's interested in their… hey!" he cried, his eyes growing wide with realization. "How did you know I know about Muggles?"  
  
She shrugged. "You were in my muggle studies class last year." She kept her eyes on the wooden bench they sat on and her brightly painted fingers played with the ends of her shoestrings. Nervously played, he noticed, and her entire body seemed to tense up ever so slightly. He wondered why she was reacting this way. He also wondered why he'd bothered to notice.  
  
"So, what's an…"  
  
"American doing in Hogwarts." She finished, smiling down at her boots. "Well," she said, hopping up onto the tabletop, causing Percy to gasp just as bit. "You see, my parents, my dad and my step-mom to be more specific, live in California. I did too, until I got my acceptance letter. So I spend the school year at Hogwarts, then I go back to San Paolo during the summer."  
  
"You mean they send acceptance letters to America?"  
  
"No. Well, I'm originally from London. My dad and mum are." She smiled a bit. "But then dad met Gillian and we moved to San Paolo."  
  
"What about your mum?"  
  
"She died when I was born." Percy immediately started mentally kicking himself. Why was he asking her all these personal questions? It wasn't his business, nor was it his style. Cool, aloof. But something about this girl prodded at his carefully placed barriers, and part of him wanted to help her pull them down.  
  
"Sorry."  
  
"It's alright. I never really knew her. Then dad went to California on a photo shoot," a carefully puzzled look from Percy made her pause for explanation. "Dad's a photojournalist for the Daily Prophet." Percy nodded. "So, he was in California on a photo shoot, something about Quidditch in the states, and he met Gillian."  
  
"How old were you?"  
  
'Six. It really wasn't so bad. She cooks like a dream, and she's super sweet. Plus, she taught me to surf, once I was old enough."  
  
"You… surf?" he asked, his jaw dropping.  
  
"Yea. Sure. I mean, I'm from the East Coast. I'd never be able to hold my head up at home if I couldn't." she grinned. "How do you know what surfing is, anyway?"  
  
"My dad like Muggles, remember?" he replied, his mouth twisting into a sardonic smirk.  
  
"Mmn, touché." She replied, smiling. A small beeping noise sounded and Anne pulled her wrist up towards her face, flinging her robe up her arm. She looked down at the beeping watch and wrinkled her nose. "Potions." She droned melancholically. "I just love seeing Snape first thing in the morning." She pushed herself off of the tabletop and bounced onto the stone floor, her black robes falling around her. Percy stared at the left side of her uniformed robe, a blueberry colored patch catching his eye.  
  
"You're in Ravenclaw?"  
  
"Yup. Which means we have potions together." She quickly reached past him and grabbed three of the fluffy, white biscuits, stuffing them into her pockets. "For latter." She grinned. "So, you wanna walk me to class, now that you know I exist?"  
  
He looked at her for a moment, considering. It seemed ridiculous to him that he was in this situation, a pretty, very pretty, girl was standing in front of him, asking him to walk her to class. This seemed like Bill or Charlie's area of expertise. He wasn't an overly friendly person, he wasn't social, and he had no qualities that would recommend him as a friend. Yet here she was, asking for his company. His. It seemed too good to be true. Almost.  
  
"Sure." He said, getting up and grabbing his books. He started walking, passing an entire table before he realized she wasn't beside him. He looked back over his shoulder, hoping he hadn't been the butt of some joke. What he found was Anne, just starting an enthused run towards him. He almost fell over when she whooshed past, but she grabbed his hand, her fingers instantly weaving between his, and she jet-set out of the hall, dragging a stunned Percy in her wake. 


End file.
